Some people get on all the good mailing lists.
A colleague at work gets a copy of Playboy delivered each month. Some of us have to settle for Automotive Executive.
Then there`s Patrick, a reader who called to tell us the mail brought him a letter from National Marketing & Research Ltd. in Los Angeles offering a Yamoto motorcycle. Actually, not just a Yamoto, but a Yamoto Super 250GT. FREE.
Just one thing Patrick wanted to clear up first, which is why he called us.
”What the hell is a Yamoto Super 250GT?” he asked. ”I like bikes, I own bikes and I`ve talked to other people in cycling, and none of us has ever heard of a Yamoto.”
Who cares what a Yamoto is as long as you`re getting one free, we replied while thumbing through Automotive Executive as our colleague flipped Playboy`s pages.
Though the motorcycle`s free, Patrick said, he has to send $396 to National to cover the cost of shipping the bike to his door. He then will test the unit that supposedly is built in Korea before it enters the low-cost motorcycle market.
And, by the way, Patrick said, National needs the $396 within 48 hours and will send a courier to his home to collect it.
What puzzled us a bit is that though Patrick never heard of a Yamoto, much less the Super 250GT, and though he admitted that $396 is a lot of money to part with under a 48-hour deadline, he was interested and wanted to know more about Yamoto.
”I`m a well educated person and lots of red flags went up, but I still suspect that if a Korean company is trying to break into this market they would run some test marketing first and contact opinion leaders. That`s what they do in sports equipment,” he said.
We called National in Los Angeles to get some details about the Yamoto Super 250GT and the free $396 offer.
We asked for Robert Mathews, the name on Patrick`s letter.
”He`s not here,” said the young man who answered. ”What`s the registration number on top of your letter?”
”There`s no number and no letter. We`re calling for a reader,” we told the man, identifying ourselves and the newspaper.
”I can only give information to recipients of the letter,” he said, turning me over to a man identified as Bill Roberts, who stated: ”You`re not one of our recipients.”
”No, but the reason for the call is to find out some more about the Yamoto, your company and why those who get the mailing have to send in $396,” we said.
”Those who get the mailing aren`t obligated to do anything and it`s $394 for the cost of shipping the cycle to their home, not $396,” he shot back.
”After 30 days of testing, they get to keep the cycle. Listen, you`re not a recipient. If you want any information write down your questions and send them to the company.”
”And what`s the address of the company?” we asked.
”That`s only for recipients,” he replied.
So, if anybody from Yamoto is reading this, here`s what we would like to know:
How many people got this free offer and how do you determine who gets one? How many people have sent you $394 and how many people have gotten a bike in return?
Why do you give those people only 48 hours to respond and if a courier can pick up the $394 why can`t he drop off the bike at the same time? If the people who get the bike don`t like it, do they send it back to you and who pays the $394 shipping? Finally, what`s a Yamoto Super 250GT and who makes it? We called the Korean consulate and Japan trade consul and both said they had no listing of a Yamoto motorcycle. The Japanese consul`s office said others have called asking the same thing after getting offers of a free Yamoto if they pay for shipping.
We also called Jim Baumhart, executive vice president of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Chicago.
”We`ve had a file on National Marketing since April of this year,”
Baumhart said. ”Motorcycle dealers in Los Angeles said they are unfamiliar with the Yamoto. Chicagoland dealers said they are unfamiliar with it, too.
”We advise people to use caution in dealing with National and request full product information regarding the nature of the motorcycle and the offer before agreeing to anything. We`ve had 88 inquiries from consumers about the offer in two months just in Chicagoland, which gives you an indication about the volume of the mailing from National.”
Baumhart offered one other observation about the Yamoto mailing. If it`s a limited offer for an evaluation of the product, is National`s letter sent by first-class postage to a handful of opinion leaders or is it sent through bulk mail to the masses?
Said Patrick: ”Bulk mail.”
NOTES
Winners of free tickets to the Greater Chicagoland Antique Car Auction at the Volo Museum west of Grayslake Friday and Saturday or the 5th annual National Corvette/Replica/Sports Car Show Sunday at the museum are Janis Grimes, Elgin; Chester Gilbertsen, McHenry; Deborah Hrabak, McHenry; Charles Schultz, Rolling Meadows; Dominic Salamanski, Homewood; Ken Marshall, Franklin Park; Neil Schur, Highland Park; L.K. Hayward, Barrington; Hal Jameson, Monee; Robert Greene, Naperville; Joe Wisniewski, Chicago; and Helen Bodinet, Midlothian.
An emergency truck drove up to the Chicago Transit Authority booth at State and Lake Streets in the Loop. The driver told the worker he would be glad to have a tow truck remove the orange Oldsmobile Cutlass illegally parked and blocking the intersection.
”That`s my car, leave it there,” the worker yelped.
”But it`s got a parking ticket in the window,” the emergency driver replied.
”I put it there so they`d leave me alone,” the CTA employee answered. If CTA service is so good, why does that employee drive to work? And why doesn`t one of Chicago`s finest spot the old ticket-in-the-windshield routine? News item: Chrysler Canada Ltd. was fined $60,000 for misleading advertisements in Toronto`s three daily newspapers. The company advertised 1984 Chrysler K-cars with automatic transmission at $7,777 with options extra. But an investigator found no K-cars at that price because they came only with options that neither the company nor the dealers would remove. Chrysler Canada paid 50 percent of the advertising fee, and 23 Chrysler dealers paid the other 50 percent. The dealers were prosecuted separately and were fined $6,000 each, for a total of $138,000.
The Museum of Science and Industry and Mercedes-Benz will sponsor,
”Automobiles: The First Century,” June 19 through Sept. 7 in the museum. The exhibit includes seven cars, artifacts, videos and demonstrations to portray the technological, historical and social impact of the car in the U.S. Admission to the museum and exhibit is free.
Congratulations to Downstaters Garret Payne and Ron Moore, both 18, who`ll participate in the American Automobile Association-Plymouth Trouble Shooting Contest June 20-24 in Washington, D.C. Both represent the Mt. Vernon Area Vocation Center in the annual contest to find and fix bugs in a car.
A woman called to say that her bill of sale carries a notation that the buyer will ”wait two months before taking legal action, if any, against dealer.”
Maybe it`s the Jim and Tammy influence, but the banner headline on the cover of Car Craft magazine stated: ”Torque Secrets Revealed.”
